Employee Not Participating in Review Process

[Anonymous]

We have an employee that has apparently decided not to participate in the review process - won't fill out self assessment/goal making worksheets and won't sign up for a review time slot. This is despite repeated reminders to do both - all reminders and nudges were ignored. Reviews have now come and gone. We were kind of hoping employee would pull it together last minute, but no such luck. I'm pretty flabbergasted by this to say the least.

Immediately, this person will not receive a compensation increase for this year. Beyond that, how to proceed? Leadership team has varying thoughts, so I am curious others' thoughts. I would consider this worthy of termination or at least a PIP (but we've never really had to do those before; we're a smaller company) This all just happened and I haven't seen this person in person yet to discuss and obviously emails/IMs go nowhere with this person.

[Anonymous]

Maybe they are busy doing actual work?

[Anonymous]

Why can't their manager just schedule a meeting and tell the employee it's mandatory. Putting their job in jeopardy is ridiculous. They're doing their job.

FWIW, I write the exact same things on my review every single year. Verbatim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can't their manager just schedule a meeting and tell the employee it's mandatory. Putting their job in jeopardy is ridiculous. They're doing their job.

FWIW, I write the exact same things on my review every single year. Verbatim.

In hindsight, that's what should've been done. We just have always blocked out time and let people sign up within those slots that work for them and it's never been an issue. We won't do it that way again next year.

[Anonymous]

So...have you mentioned that this is mandatory to the team and a requirement to receive a compensation increase? Sometimes management sends random requests are just more BS and not required.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe they are busy doing actual work?

I don't think asking for 1 hour (or less, sometimes it's a quick 30 min review) twice per year is a big ask. Additionally, this person could benefit from some constructive criticism based on performance and feedback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So...have you mentioned that this is mandatory to the team and a requirement to receive a compensation increase? Sometimes management sends random requests are just more BS and not required.

Yes, it's been made very clear that it's mandatory. Multiple times.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you're looking for a way to get rid of them and are hoping DCUM will help you blow the review thing out of proportion, enough to merit a PIP or a firing.

[Anonymous]

Why are they not doing it? Anxiety? Are they angry at the company?

It's a bit weird, but I bet it's related to anxiety. They are likely very self-critical/low self-esteem and have difficulty just beginning to put pen to paper to write about themselves. They are probably overly-focused about not wanting to be a "bragger."

I would have a low-stakes discussion with them in-person. Don't make it a big "serious discussion." You want to disarm them and get them to tell you the truth. That requires trust.

I would be straight forward them - "I can't give you your annual raise until you do this." Then I would list off 3-4 things that you think they've done well in the past year and encourage them to include those in their assessment.

[Anonymous]

How would you structure the PIP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like you're looking for a way to get rid of them and are hoping DCUM will help you blow the review thing out of proportion, enough to merit a PIP or a firing.

Actually, no. I'm truly at a loss and just really surprised by this, particularly from someone who has expressed interest in promotions and upward mobility and is still fairly new-ish.

[Anonymous]

Isn't is sufficient that he gets no annual adjustment? That is likely saving the company a few thousand dollars over the next year. No performance review, no raise/COLA. You file an official review that the employee did not participate in the process, so an annual adjustment to his salary was not made. And you attach a copy of this to his permanent record.

Is there any reason that you need to be more punitive? If he otherwise does good work, then his employment and/or termination should be about his work. If he misses other mandatory functions, meetings, or work, then you put him on a PIP. But the annual review process is mostly for his benefit, e.g. he gets an annual raise. If he wants to forgo that, then it's his loss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are they not doing it? Anxiety? Are they angry at the company?

It's a bit weird, but I bet it's related to anxiety. They are likely very self-critical/low self-esteem and have difficulty just beginning to put pen to paper to write about themselves. They are probably overly-focused about not wanting to be a "bragger."

I would have a low-stakes discussion with them in-person. Don't make it a big "serious discussion." You want to disarm them and get them to tell you the truth. That requires trust.

I would be straight forward them - "I can't give you your annual raise until you do this." Then I would list off 3-4 things that you think they've done well in the past year and encourage them to include those in their assessment.

You'd have to know the person, but it's absolutely not due to being self-critical or lo self-esteem. If anything, it's the opposite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can't their manager just schedule a meeting and tell the employee it's mandatory. Putting their job in jeopardy is ridiculous. They're doing their job.

FWIW, I write the exact same things on my review every single year. Verbatim.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are they not doing it? Anxiety? Are they angry at the company?

It's a bit weird, but I bet it's related to anxiety. They are likely very self-critical/low self-esteem and have difficulty just beginning to put pen to paper to write about themselves. They are probably overly-focused about not wanting to be a "bragger."

I would have a low-stakes discussion with them in-person. Don't make it a big "serious discussion." You want to disarm them and get them to tell you the truth. That requires trust.

I would be straight forward them - "I can't give you your annual raise until you do this." Then I would list off 3-4 things that you think they've done well in the past year and encourage them to include those in their assessment.

+100

I worked with several people like this before. They had come from absolutely terrible, abusive workplaces straight out of school and the experiences negatively impacted their work down the line; they were usually very nervous around review time, even if they had no reason to be.